Combretum glutinosum
Encyclopedia
Combretum glutinosum is a shrub species of the genus Combretum
, found in the Sahel belt in parts of Senegal
, Burkina Faso
, Ghana
, Mali
, The Gambia
, Niger
, Nigeria
and Cameroon
, across to parts of Sudan
. It is known as dooki in Pulaar
, Kantakara in Hausa
, rat in Wolof
and jambakatan kè in Maninka. Its synonyms are Combretum cordofanum Engl. & Diels, C. passargei Engl. & Diels, C. leonense Engl. & Diels.
type forests, in several soil types but is best suited to sandy and free draining soils. It is drought resistant and grows in areas of annual rainfall of 200–700 mm (7.9–27.6 ). Its growth is fast and profuse.
As a bushy shrub the plant grows up to 12 metres (39.4 ft) with an open crown with low branches that droop down, and is deciduous. The trunk is usually twisted and low branched, with grey-black rough bark. The thick leathery green leaves have a gummy feel to them and are glutinous when young. The plant flowers during the dry season after the bush fires which facilitate leaf flushing that supports flowering.
In Burkina Faso and Mali, flowers tend to appear between December and March, but this varies from area to area and flowers may appear as late as July. The fruit is a four-winged elliptic samara, and has a sticky feel, reddish and turns yellowish towards the end of the season. The fruit typically measures 2.5–4 cm (0.984251968503937–1.6 ) long and 1.5–3 cm (0.590551181102362–1.2 ) across. It bears fruits generally in January and fruiting lasts until November. Seeds are collected by shaking the branches of the tree. The seeds are oil bearing and one kilogram contains about 20,000 seeds, and it has an oil potential yield of c. 24%. The plant parasite which infects Combretum glutinosum is Loranthaceae
.
Seeds stored for 18 months in temperature maintained at 4 °C (39.2 °F) have a germination rate of 84% when planted. 95% germination has also been reported by "following drying to moisture contents in equilibrium with 15% relative humidity and freezing for 1 month at (-) 20 degrees C." The optimum temperature for germination is reported to be between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F).
, ellagic acid
, flavonoid
glycosides and 4 tannins; the tannins reported are 2,3-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-D-glucose, punicalin, punicalagin
and combreglutinin. The black colour of the bogolan
fabric is attributed to the chemical reaction of the tannins with the soluble iron compounds present in the fermented mud.
Africa
to produce yellow dye. The yellowish wood is "hard and extremely durable," and is used for building frames and tools, as well as fuel. The brownish or brownish yellow dyes are used in the textile industry and also in leather tanning and to dye mats. The plant is foraged by cattle, giraffe
s and other animals, and its young leaves are sometimes eaten as a vegetable by humans, sometimes with taro
. The plant is in growing demand for the manufacture of bogolan textiles both in the local and international fashion world.
Cultural
A special textile known as the “mud cloth”, "bògòlanfini
" or "bogolan" is manufactured locally. It contains plant tannins mixed with iron salts present in the fermented mud. Bogolan is a specialized art form established by Mande women, in particularly those from Bamanan, Bobo, Dogon, Malinke, Minianka, and Senoufo groups.
Medicinal
The plants bark, leaves and roots are extracted for traditional medicinal uses for treating various ailments from influenza
, and rheumatism
, to sexual issues such as impotence and syphilis
. It is commonly brewed as a tea in tropical West Africa to relieve stomach issues, and to treat malaria in a decoction with a number of other leaves obtained in the bush. In the Senegambia region, it is one of a number of trees whose twigs are used as "chewing sticks," used in lieu of toothbrushes to clean teeth, remove food particles after eating, and to chew for pleasure. It is also used to fill cavities of carious teeth, to dress wounds, for fumigation and as incense. A decoction
of the leaves is used for baths to relieve fatigue.
Combretum
The bushwillows or combretums, Combretum, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The genus comprises about 370 species of trees and shrubs, roughly 300 of which are native to tropical and southern Africa, about 5 to Madagascar, some 25 to tropical Asia and approximately 40 to tropical...
, found in the Sahel belt in parts of Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
, Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
and Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, across to parts of Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. It is known as dooki in Pulaar
Pulaar
Pulaar is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by Fula people and Tukolor in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro, and further south and east...
, Kantakara in Hausa
Hausa language
Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...
, rat in Wolof
Wolof language
Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
and jambakatan kè in Maninka. Its synonyms are Combretum cordofanum Engl. & Diels, C. passargei Engl. & Diels, C. leonense Engl. & Diels.
Habitat
Combretum glutinosum tends to grow in savannaSavanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
type forests, in several soil types but is best suited to sandy and free draining soils. It is drought resistant and grows in areas of annual rainfall of 200–700 mm (7.9–27.6 ). Its growth is fast and profuse.
Plant growth
In Burkina Faso and Mali, flowers tend to appear between December and March, but this varies from area to area and flowers may appear as late as July. The fruit is a four-winged elliptic samara, and has a sticky feel, reddish and turns yellowish towards the end of the season. The fruit typically measures 2.5–4 cm (0.984251968503937–1.6 ) long and 1.5–3 cm (0.590551181102362–1.2 ) across. It bears fruits generally in January and fruiting lasts until November. Seeds are collected by shaking the branches of the tree. The seeds are oil bearing and one kilogram contains about 20,000 seeds, and it has an oil potential yield of c. 24%. The plant parasite which infects Combretum glutinosum is Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae is a family of flowering plants, which has been universally recognized by taxonomists. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemi-parasites, all of them except three having the mistletoe habit...
.
Seeds stored for 18 months in temperature maintained at 4 °C (39.2 °F) have a germination rate of 84% when planted. 95% germination has also been reported by "following drying to moisture contents in equilibrium with 15% relative humidity and freezing for 1 month at (-) 20 degrees C." The optimum temperature for germination is reported to be between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F).
Chemical properties
Chemical analysis of the leaves of the plant has identified Gallic acidGallic acid
Gallic acid is a trihydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid, a type of organic acid, also known as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid, found in gallnuts, sumac, witch hazel, tea leaves, oak bark, and other plants. The chemical formula is C6H23COOH. Gallic acid is found both free and as part of...
, ellagic acid
Ellagic acid
Ellagic acid is a natural phenol antioxidant found in numerous fruits and vegetables including blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates, wolfberry and other plant foods...
, flavonoid
Flavonoid
Flavonoids , are a class of plant secondary metabolites....
glycosides and 4 tannins; the tannins reported are 2,3-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-D-glucose, punicalin, punicalagin
Punicalagin
Punicalagin is an ellagitannin, a polyphenol compound which are isomers of 2,3--hexahydroxydiphenoyl-4,6--gallagyl-D-glucose, hydrolysable tannins with a molecular weight of 1084. They are found in forms alpha and beta in pomegranates...
and combreglutinin. The black colour of the bogolan
Bògòlanfini
Bògòlanfini or bogolan is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with fermented mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture and has, more recently, become a symbol of Malian cultural identity...
fabric is attributed to the chemical reaction of the tannins with the soluble iron compounds present in the fermented mud.
Uses
The bark, leaves and roots are used by the people inhabiting SahelSahel
The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea....
Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
to produce yellow dye. The yellowish wood is "hard and extremely durable," and is used for building frames and tools, as well as fuel. The brownish or brownish yellow dyes are used in the textile industry and also in leather tanning and to dye mats. The plant is foraged by cattle, giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
s and other animals, and its young leaves are sometimes eaten as a vegetable by humans, sometimes with taro
Taro
Taro is a common name for the corms and tubers of several plants in the family Araceae . Of these, Colocasia esculenta is the most widely cultivated, and is the subject of this article. More specifically, this article describes the 'dasheen' form of taro; another variety is called eddoe.Taro is...
. The plant is in growing demand for the manufacture of bogolan textiles both in the local and international fashion world.
Cultural
A special textile known as the “mud cloth”, "bògòlanfini
Bògòlanfini
Bògòlanfini or bogolan is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with fermented mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture and has, more recently, become a symbol of Malian cultural identity...
" or "bogolan" is manufactured locally. It contains plant tannins mixed with iron salts present in the fermented mud. Bogolan is a specialized art form established by Mande women, in particularly those from Bamanan, Bobo, Dogon, Malinke, Minianka, and Senoufo groups.
Medicinal
The plants bark, leaves and roots are extracted for traditional medicinal uses for treating various ailments from influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
, and rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
, to sexual issues such as impotence and syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
. It is commonly brewed as a tea in tropical West Africa to relieve stomach issues, and to treat malaria in a decoction with a number of other leaves obtained in the bush. In the Senegambia region, it is one of a number of trees whose twigs are used as "chewing sticks," used in lieu of toothbrushes to clean teeth, remove food particles after eating, and to chew for pleasure. It is also used to fill cavities of carious teeth, to dress wounds, for fumigation and as incense. A decoction
Decoction
Decoction is a method of extraction, by boiling, of dissolved chemicals, or herbal or plant material, which may include stems, roots, bark and rhizomes. Decoction involves first mashing, and then boiling in water to extract oils, volatile organic compounds, and other chemical substances...
of the leaves is used for baths to relieve fatigue.